Asia Sentinel at 20: Two Decades of Independent Journalism

We mark 20 years of covering the stories that have shaped Asia

Happy birthday to us!

Today (August 6), Asia Sentinel completes 20 years of informed analysis, news, and commentary on business, politics, economics, and pressing social issues in Asia. We said when we started that we are independent of all governments and major media enterprises, and we still are. We have twice won the top award for investigative and interpretive reporting from the Society of Publishers in Asia, Asia’s version of the Pulitzer Prize (one in 2013 and again in 2014). We hope we are highly respected in the business, economics, and diplomatic communities across the region.

We are open to contributions not only from journalists but also from professionals in fields such as finance, diplomacy, science, and the arts. We have no ideology other than a belief in the benefits of a free media. We will not publish editorials but give free rein to diverse opinions.

Along the way, we have printed stories about fishing for brown trout in Bhutan, the Caucasian contribution to Asia’s beauty queens, vultures acting as undertakers in India, major scandals in Malaysia and Indonesia, pale faces in Bollywood, and where to find the best dumplings in Hong Kong—more than 10,000 stories in all, most of them from indigenous journalists across the region. We were the first to identify an obscure Terengganu Fund as the precursor to the massive scandal around Malaysia Development Bhd.

We are looking forward to seeing our publication continue into the future, although we would not mind handing it off to new blood. We hope we have met your expectations as readers, whose number now stands at 17,000. For those reading this for the first time, we would like to see you become paid readers too.

None of this would have been possible without the support of our paying subscribers, whose subscriptions have enabled us to continue producing independent journalism over the past 20 years. To those who have supported us along the way, we offer our sincere thanks. If you are not yet a paid subscriber, we hope you will consider becoming one.

Also, help spread the word about Asia Sentinel to friends and colleagues who value independent journalism. We look forward to many more years of covering Asia with the same independence that has guided us since the beginning.

Say happy birthday. Cut the cake!